The present invention pertains to a method and apparatus for interspecies communication. In particular, the present invention pertains to a method and apparatus in which human and dolphin participants may systematically arrive at a mutually understandable communication system through active feed-back and progressive learning.
There have been attempts to provide meaningful communication between two species. Particularly, conventional attempts have included trying to teach, for example, chimpanzees or apes a sign language which can be understandable by the chimp or ape and by the human participant. However, these attempts at teaching sign language have been failures except in the respect of teaching the animal through rote learning how to mimic certain hand positions in response to external stimuli.
There have also been attempts to communicate with the dolphin species. These attempts include trying to teach captive dolphins to indicate a particular symbol among a choice of symbols in response to stimuli. However, like the hand signals taught to the chimpanzees and apes, this communication is also at best a very rudimentary level and provides little more than rote learning by the dolphin. Furthermore, the prior art lacks any means by which the dolphins may receive feed-back in the form of stimuli which is particularly suited to the dolphin brain communication structures. In addition, the prior attempts have all failed to recognize that any attempt at meaningful communication between the dolphin and human species must require that an apparatus be designed which provides feed-back which can be perceived by both the human and dolphin participants and which is adapted to progressively develop a mutually communicable language between the two species.
Traditionally, attempts have been made to communicate with dolphins. However, these attempts generally consisted of no more than mere rote training such as the memorization of simple symbols by the dolphins in return for which they were rewarded with a food morsel. However, in accordance with the theory underlying the present invention, a communication system must be developed predicated on the possibility that the dolphin species is capable of meaningful and complex communication between individual members of the dolphin species.
If one supposes that dolphins do perform meaningful and complex communication within their own species, then the next question which must be answered is, in what form does this communication take? The present invention is intended to provide a means for exploring the possibility that dolphin communicate intraspecies using a communication system which evolved in an environment which is very much unlike the environment in which the human species developed communication. Therefore, it is necessary to look for clues to the development of the dolphin intraspecies communication by first looking at the physical structures of the dolphin animal in conjunction with the environment in which it lives and in which it has evolved.
The phonemes which are the foundation of human vocal communication and from which human language is constructed probably would not have evolved in the underwater communication system of the dolphins. For example, the human brain structure evolved in an environment in which actions and events are memorialized at least temporarily. A simple example of this is a pair of footsteps on a barren beach along a low tide line. An observer may come along after the perpetrator of the footprints has vanished from sight and the observer will still notice the footprints. By this observation, the observer can quickly deduce that a being had been present on the beach prior to his coming there and left the footprints. However, after high tide there will be no such clues and there will be no circumstantial evidence from which to deduce the existence of the footprint perpetrator.
In stark contrast to the evolution of the human brain, the dolphin brain evolved in an environment in which the memorialization of activities and actions simply does not occur, even temporarily. The fluid, corrosive and ever changing conditions of the oceans forced the dolphin brain to evolve in circumstances very different in many regards from human development. Therefore, one must look at the evolution of communication in the dolphin species first by considering the environment in which the evolution took place.
It is well known that dolphins echolocate in order to perceive aspects of their environment. Through this echolocation, an individual dolphin can sense structures presented before him in the water just as humans can see structures on land. However, through echolocation, a much broader range of sensory information is available to the dolphin to be deciphered by its brain to derive certain attributes of the observed object which is being echolocated. For example, if a sealed plastic bag, which is optically opaque, and which contains a doll shaped like a human baby, is thrown into a tank with a dolphin, the dolphin would be able to echolocate the sealed bag and determine many attributes of both the bag and the contents inside. For example, from the information provided to the dolphin through echolocation, the dolphin may determine the bag's size, distance from the dolphin and what type of material the bag is made from. Furthermore, by tuning its echolocation the dolphin can determine the density and thickness of the bag by, for example, determining the permeability of the bag to acoustic signals of a certain range and noting the shape of the returning wave reflected by the bag. Remarkably, the dolphin is also able to determine the contents of the optically opaque bag. For example, by correctly tuning the clicks and whistles of its echolocation system, the dolphin can sonically pierce the veil of the opaque bag and perceive the contents inside. Upon the perception of the contents, the dolphin may be prompted to urge the bag containing the doll to the surface. However, more likely the dolphin will be able to distinguish the texture and density of the plastic doll from that of the living tissue of a human baby and decide that there is no danger.
Dolphins, therefore, have a perception of the world which is not experienceable by humans. Namely, the use of echolocations as one of its senses opens up a realm of information about its environment which is not duplicated by the senses available to humans.
One of the postulates of this theory is that the dolphin communication takes place on a level which provides much more information and much more detail about a particular subject than is possible through human verbal communication. The dolphin brain has evolved using a communication tool which relies heavily on graphical representation, such as texture, form, shape, etc. The complexity of the information which may be conveyed with such a communication system is staggering as compared with the limitations of the verbal communication system available to humans.
To explain this point, one may consider the information which is perceived when one views an abstract painting. By definition, such a painting will convey a multitude of meanings and feelings, emotions and images to the observer depending upon his own experience, sophistication and mood. However, if the same individual were to observe, for example, the Mona Lisa, he would note much of the same information as any of the millions of viewers of the Mona Lisa have throughout the centuries. For instance, he would quickly realize that the painting depicts an woman, he will note the color of her eyes, the shape of her face, etc. He may be able to deduce her ethnic origin, and so on. However, even such a descriptive painting is still very much open to interpretation and conjecture by the individual which will again be dependent of the experience and particular sophistication and mood of the individual with regards to the information that the Mona Lisa conveys to him. If, however, the same individual were to view a schematic drawing, for example, a blue-print of a house, much more information will be accessible to him which is common to other viewers and which was intended by the drawer. For example, most human individuals who view the blue-print will realize that it is a depiction of a building structure and may be able to determine many of the characteristics of the structure simply by looking at the blue-print. Furthermore, if the viewer is an architect and has experience with reading blue-prints, he will be able to decipher much more information in greater detail and with greater ease than the layman.
If one were to extrapolate this experience to the realm of dolphin communication it becomes readily apparent that the graphic-based communication tools which the dolphin has evolved to communicate present the potential intraspecies communication between members of the dolphin species with instantly understandable and vast amounts of information regarding their environment. Also, it is easy to see that such a communication can also convey vast amounts of historical significance as well as current environmental occurrences. Any attempt at communication between humans and dolphin will require that the communicating devices provide a means for the dolphin to memorialize a concept so that the human may study what has been memorialized in order to determine what that concept is.
A means by which the communication apparatus of the dolphin may be suitably utilized must first be developed to begin the development of a mutually understandable communication system. Therefore, a means must be provided by which the echolocation sonic signals of the dolphin communication may be memorialized.